Productivity Author, Speaker, Trainer

Fight for your time

This week I learned how powerful it can be when you fight for your time. I am involved in a year long training and coaching program as a participant. The main focus is on implementation, and there is a very high level of accountability to ensure that we do what we say we will do.

I have attended many training programs in the past and like a lot of people have not implemented afterwards. A part of the problem was that I would come out with so many ideas and actions,that I would get overwhelmed and not implement any. But this program did things a bit differently. Each quarter we just have one major project to launch, and therefore just need to focus on one thing.

Now don't get me wrong, there is a lot to do in relation to this one project, but by keeping focus on one big thing, I am finding that I can integrate the work in with my business as usual work. I also find I am fighting for the time to work on this project more, and my resolve to see this one through to the end is paying dividends. I had a hugely busy week last week between delivering training, coaching and running the business. But I scheduled time into my system to work on this project (fought inertia), and I protected that time fiercely (fought others) and I honored that time even though I had other seemingly urgent things to do (fought myself).

So, if you are flat out with your normal day to day work, and are struggling to get time for the proactive projects, try the 'less is more' approach.

Instead of overwhelming yourself with ten projects that you will not do, choose one project and start actually doing it! Your motivation will increase, you will feel more balanced and you will get better results if you just get a bit of the high-value proactive work mixed in with the urgent day-to-day.

By the way, a project is any chunk of work that will require more than one task or activity to complete it. Choose a chunk, break it down and just do it!

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